


six centuries of balance

by lieanni (alphabetsleuth)



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angel Choi San, Character Development, Demon Jung Wooyoung, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, San is very patient, Sexual Tension, Wooyoung's favorite pastime is messing with San, lots of bickering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:08:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28721916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphabetsleuth/pseuds/lieanni
Summary: Wooyoung and San are forced to work together after their realm falls under attack. As one might expect from a partnership between a demon of lust and an angel of love, things do not go very smoothly.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung
Comments: 13
Kudos: 66





	six centuries of balance

**Author's Note:**

> big shoutout to nab & [ty](https://twitter.com/lovelyumbrella) for sending me enough woosan content to make this fic happen (and for being very kind and supportive human beings in general).
> 
> happy reading!

Wooyoung meets him immediately after ascending.

 _During_ ascension, really – Wooyoung accidentally overshoots the troposphere, and while he’s making his way down from the stratosphere, a bright, blinding beam of light streaks past him. Thankfully, being a demon means that there are few things his eyes can’t handle, but he’s still blinking a myriad of colored dots out of his vision when his feet touch Earth. He finds himself in the middle of a plaza; it’s bustling, but – thanks to the invisibility shroud he’d cast around himself prior to his descent – no one seems to notice his presence.

In fact, a few people walk straight through him, which results in an odd, tingly sensation under Wooyoung’s skin that makes him head straight for a more deserted area of the square. Still, there’s too much noise around him to think properly, so he quickly murmurs a silencing incantation, and within seconds, the yells of merchants and restaurant owners die down into whispers before fading into nothing at all.

Finally at peace, Wooyoung closes his eyes and tries to recall the instructions that Asmodeus had given him.

“Hello?”

Wooyoung’s eyes snap open, and he turns around, bewildered, in the direction of the voice. 

He’s met with fluffy blond hair, curious gray eyes, and a bright, annoying smile.

Honestly, Wooyoung doesn’t even have to look at any of the angel’s other features to know that he’s an angel, but lo and behold, there are two sweeping, snow-white wings arching out from behind him.

“Who are you?” the angel asks.

Wooyoung narrows his eyes. “Who are _you_?”

“I’m San.” The angel tilts his head to the side. “And you –– you’re a demon?”

Wooyoung scoffs and ruffles his wings in annoyance. “No, I’m a fucking bird. Why ask questions that you already know the answer to?”

“I just wanted to confirm,” San says calmly, somehow not at all perturbed by Wooyoung’s quip. “You’re Wooyoung, right?” 

Wooyoung pauses. He briefly considers lying, but one of the perks of being a fallen angel is that he actually, physically can’t, so instead he just sighs and asks, “How do you know that?”

“Chamuel told me about you. Did Asmodeus not tell you about me?”

“No, he – he did.”

Well, kind of. It’s not a lie, so Wooyoung can still say it, but Asmodeus mentioned San at most in passing, and certainly not by name. When he’d given Wooyoung his assignment, he’d mentioned that one of their ‘old friends’ would likely be joining him; as with Heaven and Hell, the mortal realm, too, requires balance. It makes sense, then, that San is under Chamuel – a disciple of the Angel of Peaceful Relationships sent to counterbalance a servant of the Demon of Lust. How poetic.

“Oh,” San remarks, brows raised. “Really? You seem surprised by what I said, though.”

“I can’t lie. You know that.”

“I suppose so. I just – the thing about fallen angels still not being unable to lie...I almost didn’t expect it to be true.”

Wooyoung sighs. The only other piece of wisdom Asmodeus had given him regarding his angelic counterpart was to ‘just coexist. It’s not like you’ll be seeing much of him, anyways. Unless he’s one of _those_ angels – you know, the particularly preachy and goody-goody ones – in which case you can just scare him a bit, and he’ll probably scurry out of your way.’

San is quickly panning out to be one of _those_ angels, and Wooyoung frankly doesn’t have the energy to deal with him right now.

“Okay, we’re done here,” Wooyoung asserts, already turning around. “See you hopefully never.”

“Wait, I’m sorry,” San says, voice lilting into a laugh in a way that’s almost melodical. “I’m – it’s nice to meet you.”

Wooyoung whips around and balks at him. “I’m your assigned nemesis for the rest of eternity, and you think that it’s _nice_ to meet me?”

“Well, I wouldn’t really call you my nemesis – how did Chamuel put it? You’re…oh! You’re like the feather.”

_The feather..?_

Then it hits him.

“You – did you just compare me to the feather of truth in the weighing of souls.” Wooyoung does not bother phrasing it as a question.

San’s eyes widen and he raises his hands defensively. “It’s a compliment!”

“Darling,” Wooyoung says, expression twisting, “I despised the Creator so much that I willingly cast myself out of Heaven. There is nothing Heaven-related that I consider a compliment.”

“But you were one of us.”

Wooyoung hums. “Emphasis on ‘were’.”

“I don’t ––” San’s brows knit, and he fidgets under Wooyoung’s gaze. “Mmn.”

“What.”

“I’ve never understood,” San admits.

“Understood what? The decision to fall?”

San nods, eyes eager, and Wooyoung almost pities how stupid he is.

“Either you’ll find out on your own someday, or you’ll live in stupid, brainwashed bliss forever.” He punctuates the sentence with a saccharine smile.

San looks conflicted. “But you don’t _have_ to be –”

“No,” Wooyoung interjects. He’s already wasted enough time on the angel, and he has a sinking feeling that he knows what San’s going to say next. It’s probably best for the both of them – now that they’ll be sharing responsibility for the mortal sphere – that he not let the conversation get to that point.

He takes a few steps forward, closing the distance between himself and San, stopping only when they’re a mere footstep apart. San is taller than him, but as Wooyoung brings a hand to his chin and tilts his head downwards so that the other is looking straight into his eyes, the angel seems impossibly small.

“Listen closely, dear angel. I’m not sure what you’re getting at right now, but something tells me that if you continue speaking, our chance at not _actually_ being nemeses will disappear, and that’s not going to be fun for either one of us. Understood?”

San purses his lips. Judging by how suddenly silent the angel has gone, Wooyoung supposes that he’s gotten the message across, but when he lets his fingertips drop from San’s chin, he hears the angel whisper, “It’s not too late, you know.”

Wooyoung’s shoulders stiffen. “Excuse me?”

“Chamuel told me that it wouldn’t be any use, but I –” San looks away from Wooyoung, and his voice fades into a whisper. When he raises his gaze again, his eyes are determined. “If you – the Creator loves all of his children. If you just cast aside – cast aside and atone for your sins, there is a chance you can be taken back.”

There’s a voice of reason in the back of Wooyoung’s head reminding him that he’ll probably have to deal with San for the rest of eternity. It’s telling him to just walk away – San’s words aren’t anything Wooyoung hasn’t heard before; he’s gotten the spiel from every angel he’s encountered since his descent. But something about the peculiar combination of San’s wide-eyed innocence and the genuineness of his words that stirs a hungry, hideous resentment deep within him, and now he’s livid.

“Why would I want to do that?” he snarls, and the fact that San flinches away from him only fuels his indignation. “Did you not hear _any_ of what I just said?”

“But you used to be an angel! Surely, you haven’t forgotten what the love of –”

“Love,” Wooyoung scoffs, spitting the word out like it’s venom. “You – tell me, angel, do you love all beings?”

San nods. “I do, all equally, as is the will of the Creator.” Wooyoung says it with him, in time, and now the angel’s eyes are wider than ever before.

“Even demons?”

“Yes.”

Wooyoung takes a deep breath. “I –”

His sentence gets lost in an incredulous laugh, the naivety of the angel in front of him somehow both infuriating and amusing. By the time he gets a grip on himself, his wings are spread out wide behind him, casting an ominous shadow over San’s now cowering figure. His ebony feathers curl around San’s form as Wooyoung drifts impossibly closer, his wings lifting him upwards so that he’s now peering down at the angel.

“Listen, San,” he purrs, reaching a hand down to rest against San’s cheek. Faintly, he can feel the angel trembling. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard about demons up in that quaint little kingdom of yours, but I assure you that – should I wish – I am fully capable of making your existence absolutely _miserable_.”

He magnifies his aura, then trails his finger down the pane of San’s cheekbone, thumb tracing the cut of his jaw before curving upwards and stopping at his bottom lip. Wooyoung almost laughs at the fact that the angel’s gaze is now trained on his mouth; he almost didn’t believe it when Asmodeus first told him, but it appears that it’s true – even angels can fall privy to the desire he emanates.

“Not so high and mighty now, hm, _love_?” Wooyoung murmurs, and as if a spell has been lifted, San’s eyes widen, and with a shuddering breath, he stumbles backwards. 

The blush that spreads across the angel’s nose brings Wooyoung a dull sense of satisfaction, and the affirmation of his own self-righteousness pulls the curtains apart on his anger-induced stupor, again permitting access to reason. Though Wooyoung would love to continue testing the waters, he’s sure it’ll come with consequences; it’s only his first day on Earth, and he has millennia ahead to mess with San, so for now, he just cocks his head and grins at the angel.

 _Just scare him a bit, and he’ll probably scurry out of your way_.

“Though I was originally partial to the notion of…’coexisting’, your stupid little sermon has made me realize that it’s not going to happen. So do me a favor and stay the fuck away from me.”

And stay the fuck away from Wooyoung he does, because it’s more than six centuries later that he sees San again.

That year, on the first day of spring, a shadow wraith appears in the mortal realm. Wooyoung doesn’t think much of it; occasionally, monsters will escape from Hell. It sounds terrifying, but that’s just how things are - most of Hell’s warding efforts go towards the _actually_ horrifying monsters, which is why some of the lesser ones get loose.

Anyways, it presents no problem – Wooyoung just mutters an incantation, and with the snap of his fingers, the wraith goes _poof_ , dissolving into a pile of rather distasteful goop. He snaps his fingers again, and the goop disappears, banished back to the pit of Hell from whence it came.

It’s when he’s dealing with the hundredth shadow wraith that week that he realizes something is up. Courtesy of the sheer abundance of human sin, he’s become much more powerful than he was when he’d first ascended – he probably wouldn’t have been able to deal with even a dozen wraiths back then – but it’s still a power drain on him to hex the creatures back to Hell. So, after ridding Seoul of yet another pesky phantom, he grabs some ash and then teleports to the outskirts of the city. He locates an abandoned warehouse, steps inside, and then draws a pentagram on the ground and places himself at the center of it. An incantation later, he’s – 

He’s still in the mortal realm.

Wooyoung gives it another try, but he’s still stuck in the warehouse.

While he’s thinking that there’s no fucking way he forgot the words to get himself back to Hell, another wraith attacks him. While he’s dealing with the aftermath of the creature, something crashes through the wooden doors of the warehouse, splintering them into pieces and causing nearly the entire front wall to collapse.

It’s a Hellhound.

At first, Wooyoung just scoffs at the creature, then makes a little tutting noise with his mouth. Hellhounds can be a pain in the ass to deal with, but they all serve a certain master in Hell, and Wooyoung has few enemies in the realm. When it charges at him, though, Wooyoung realizes that he’s in a bit of trouble. 

His power is still a bit drained from the wraith hexing and the failed incantations, but it takes just a quarter of an hour for him to get the Hellhound issue settled. As hard as he’d tried to keep it contained to the warehouse, perhaps sensing that it would be more troublesome for Wooyoung to do so, it had rampaged through half of Seodaemun-gu by the time he’d finally managed to capture and banish it. That required, of course, Wooyoung to cast both a healing shroud and memory spell over the entire district; it’s odd that the creature was able to get past the wards he’d already had in place in the area – Hellhounds are a Tier 5 creature, and generally, only creatures Tier 3 and above have the ability to do so.

Needless to say, by the time the ordeal wraps up, Wooyoung’s exhausted – he could still take on a dozen Hellhounds, but a bigger monster might be a bit of an issue. And of course, a bigger monster is waiting for him as soon as he crosses into Mapo-gu to inspect damage, and if it weren’t his problem to deal with, maybe he’d be excited about the opportunity to see a Minotaur in the flesh. 

As is, though, it’s currently ripping the ceilings off a BBQ restaurant in the center of the district, so Wooyoung casts a protective ward over the area; the ceiling restores itself, and the mortals within – as always – are none the wiser. _This is for all the power you and your ancestors have given me over the years_ , Wooyoung thinks, but he’s still quite sullen about the chunk of power it takes him to re-inforce all the wards he has up around South Korea, already anticipating further trouble in the region. Thankfully, there hasn’t been an aura pull in any of the other areas that Wooyoung has been assigned to; faintly, he wonders if the servants of the other Sins are experiencing similar problems. If he could just get back to Hell, maybe he could ask.

Wooyoung murmurs an incantation under his breath as he leads the Minotaur to a more deserted area of the city – funny, because with the human proclivities of unaffordable housing and using lodging as a monetary asset, there’s literally nowhere in Seoul that’s deserted, but Wooyoung is trying his best. Still, after finishing the invocation and tapping his temple twice, there’s nothing; he can’t get into the communication array that Hell has set up in the mortal realm.

While he’s thinking about the possible explanations for this occurrence, the Minotaur changes course, and it’s with minor mortification that he realizes the creature has lost interest in him and is now towards the center of Seoul. It’s a significant power drain, but Wooyoung preemptively casts yet another protective ward over the city, and it’s with a hint of terror that he sees the Minotaur make a dent in it. It shouldn’t be possible for a Tier 4 creature to even touch a triple-warded area, but the Minotaur continues headbutting the shrouds, its horns causing almost indiscernible ripples in the barrier. 

Figuring he has no other choice, Wooyoung closes his eyes and reaches deep into the wells of his power, and within the next few seconds, a whip materializes in his hand. He swings it at the creature, and just one lash is enough to get it to change its focus. Rearing its giant, hideous head, it charges straight at him, and Wooyoung – thankfully – gets the timing right and manages to wrap the fall of his whip around one of its horns.

He uses the adrenaline of just barely escaping being gored to get on the creature’s back, and with a pull that takes nearly all of the energy he has left, he manages to fell the Minotaur, hopping off of its back before it hits the ground. The whip in his hand transforms into a sword, and he shears the creature’s horn off; the cry it lets out makes him wince, but it soon disappears along with the rest of the creature, leaving behind just a fragment of the Minotaur horn that Wooyoung had cut off.

More out of curiosity than out of deference to the sin he serves, Wooyoung picks the shard up and murmurs an invocation, and the object disappears, supposedly sent off on its route to Asmodeus’s realm.

 _Oh, so a_ horn _can go back, but_ I _can’t._

Wooyoung wonders just how many mortals he’ll have to go through to get his power back; though his magic recuperates with time, with how drained he is, he’ll probably have to accelerate the process. There’s also the looming threat of another monster appearing, and Wooyoung’s not sure if he can handle another Minotaur. Apparently he doesn’t have a choice, though, because – as evidenced many times prior – he can’t get in contact with anyone or anything from Hell.

He’ll have to find some way of dealing with the issues because he is _not_ going to be demoted, but first things first. With a weary sigh, he turns around to face the damage the Minotaur has done, and he finds that the wards are – well, perfect. Like they haven’t been touched at all.

Wooyoung blinks a few times, wondering if the power drain is making him hallucinate.

“When I agreed to stay away from you, I’d assumed that you would be capable of taking care of the realm.”

Wooyoung sighs. He plasters a grin on his face, then turns around to meet the gaze of the person who’s just addressed him.

“Why, hello to you, too, San.”

The angel is leaning against one of the few trees that the Minotaur didn’t topple down, arms crossed squarely across his chest. Last Wooyoung had seen him, he’d been dressed in clothing fitting for the times, and this time is no different; he’s currently donning an off-white hoodie and light-wash jeans, and were it not for the wings sprouting from his back, Wooyoung probably wouldn’t even second-guess that San was just a regular human. Judging by the black converse – a university student.

Wooyoung’s sure that he looks like a mess right now – he’s not going to waste any of his magic on gussying up his appearance – but the angel also looks quite disheveled. Although, Wooyoung hasn’t seen the angel in centuries – perhaps he’s just decided to style his hair so that it’s sticking straight up at the back, but something tells Wooyoung that that’s not the case.

In lieu of responding, San just narrows his eyes at him, and Wooyoung takes the silence as an opportunity to continue.

“My sincerest apologies for my appearance. I didn’t realize we would be having a reunion, else I would have gussied up a bit.” Wooyoung quirks his lips. “Although, in my defense, I did just finish fighting a Minotaur, so.”

San scoffs. “I’ve already had to banish three of them.”

Wooyoung gasps, bringing his hand to his chest in mock defense. “What, so it’s a competition now? My dear angel, I thought we agreed to take mutual care of this realm.”

“You telling me to ‘f’ off entailed an agreement of ‘taking mutual care of the realm’?”

“Ah,” Wooyoung remarks. “It was implied. Also, please do not feel the need to contract swear words with me – feel free to just say the word ‘fuck’.”

“Insufferable,” San mutters. He shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, and Wooyoung grins delightedly, apparently successful in his quest to annoy. The angel heaves a deep sigh, lets his arm drop, and looks back at Wooyoung. “There are likely more creatures coming. How much power do you have left?”

“I, a demon who lives off of other people’s attraction to me, am not willing to use any power to fix up my own appearance. What does that tell you?”

San sighs. “Wooyoung, please. I would like to fulfill my duties as a guardian of this realm and, impish as you are, I’m sure that you do, too.”

It appears that San has also grown since their first encounter; back then, he’d been such an imposable, naive mess that Wooyoung can barely recognize the angel currently standing in front of him. He doesn’t have the brain capacity to dwell on that, though, because ––

“ _Impish_ ?” Wooyoung demands, placing his hands on his hips. “I am not _impish_.”

There’s a hint of a smile pulling at San’s lips now, and Wooyoung narrows his eyes. “Okay, you know what –– I hope you get impaled on a Minotaur horn. Goodbye.”

Wooyoung turns around with the intention to stalk off, but he’s not gone farther than three steps when San speaks again. 

“We both know that there’s no way you’re going to survive another attack.”

Wooyoung gets another five steps in before the voice in his brain saying, _he’s right, you know,_ wins over. He turns around, scowling.

“Okay, fine. You win. What do you even want me to do, though? Obviously, I don’t have much power left, so I’m not even going to be that helpful to you.”

San hums, then kicks off the tree and walks over to where Wooyoung is standing. Wooyoung flinches when the angel reaches down and takes Wooyoung’s right hand in both of his own, but San’s tightens, leaving him unable to draw away.

“Woah, woah, what are you playing at,” Wooyoung says, the panic in his voice only partly a joke. “ _I’m_ supposed to be the touchy one. Don’t tell me that the years have changed you so, my dear angel.”

“Stop that,” San orders. 

“Stop what?”

“The ‘my dear angel’ talk.”

“What, you don’t like it, sweetheart?”

San just sighs, then gets on with murmuring an incantation that Wooyoung can’t quite catch. He considers escaping, but the thought leaves him when he feels a surge of energy coursing through his body, like soothing water running into a stream, replenishing the well of magic that had been drained. The angel pulls away only when Wooyoung feels his own power halfway full, and Wooyoung quickly snatches his right hand back, cradling it protectively in the left one.

“What the fuck,” Wooyoung says, processing. “What the fuck was that?”

“I gave you some of my power.”

“Okay – why?”

“So that we can fight whatever creature decides to appear next.”

“Okay but – how do you know I’m not gonna use the power for, like, demon things? You’re weak now, too, aren’t you?”

San raises his eyebrows. “Perhaps. But I know that you also have some fondness for the people in our realm ––”

“I wouldn’t call it fondness,” Wooyoung says. A pause, then, “I see you’re still on that ‘love’ bullshit, huh?”

San sighs. “You have some _whatever you’d like to call it_ for the people in our realm, considering that they...give you your power.”

The angel says the last few words very carefully, and Wooyoung rolls his eyes. “And you’re still as prude as ever, I see.”

Then, mainly out of curiosity, he wills his aura out, then stretches it until it envelops the angel. Immediately, San levels a glare at him. 

“I did not give you power so you could use it on such childish things.”

Wooyoung frowns. “But you were so into it last time, angel.”

“I was also much weaker last time. It’s been six centuries since then, Wooyoung.”

“Boo,” Wooyoung says, but he still retracts the aura.

“Thank you. And anyways, you should know better than anyone – your power doesn’t work on higher angels.”

“Really?” Wooyoung lets out a small _huh_. “Because I’m pretty sure that’s how Asmodeus dragged Sathanas to Hell.”

San sucks in a sharp breath. “There are –– exceptions.”

“Mm,” Wooyoung hums. “That means you could fall privy as well, no?”

“Well. Sathanas was impressionable, and besides, you are no Asmodeus.”

“Did you ––” Wooyoung raises his eyebrows. “Did you just _roast_ me? I am _very_ desirable, I will have you know –”

A deafening crash interrupts Wooyoung’s sentence, and he and San turn to see that a Chimera has descended upon N Seoul Tower.

“This is not over,” Wooyoung grumbles, before muttering an incantation that brings him and San to the foot of the tower.

“Hell created _that_?” the angel asks, looking up at the Chimera with his nose wrinkled in distaste.

“Yep,” Wooyoung confirms. “One big, monstrous ‘fuck you’ to the Creator.”

“Ah. Tasteful.”

Wooyoung laughs. “You’ve gotten so funny over the past few centuries, my dear angel.”

“Focus, please. There is a Chimera in our realm.”

“Right, right, sorry.” A sword materializes in Wooyoung’s hand. “Alright – how good are you at lassoing things?”

“Three minotaurs later, I’d say I’m pretty good,” San says, and Wooyoung looks over to see the angel holding a whip. Contrary to Wooyoung’s crimson and black, San’s whip is gold and silver, the handle an ornately crafted aureate that glimmers in the reflection of the fire currently spreading from the mouth of the Chimera.

Ah, shit, the fire currently spreading from the mouth of the Chimera.

“Okay, let’s go. I’ve gotta slice the tail off, so – uhm. Yeah, just lasso it down, and I’ll handle it.”

Wooyoung realizes only when he’s on top of the Chimera – fucking hell, its ugly ass goat head is reared around trying to bite him – that he’s essentially putting his fate in the hands of an angel he’d told to fuck off six centuries ago, but he just hopes for the best because, suspended eight hundred feet above ground with all of his magic poured into his sword, he has no other choice. With how hard the creature is trying to buck him off, it’s a difficult feat, but he does manage to sever the Chimera’s tail. Almost instantly, the creature’s body dissolves into dust, and Wooyoung’s triumphant smile is quickly replaced by panic because now, without the Chimera underneath him, he’s free-falling through the air, unable to muster energy to get his wings to work.

He’s maybe a hundred feet from the cement when a pair of arms wrap around him, and Wooyoung doesn’t open his eyes until San has set him back down on the ground.

“Asshole,” Wooyoung mutters, dusting himself off. “What, couldn’t have _not_ waited until the last ten feet to catch me? You have wings, I know they work.”

San gives him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I was trying to banish the Chimera. And in any case, I caught you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, barely,” Wooyoung huffs. After some thought, he adds, “Thanks, though, I guess.”

San hums, and then the two of them get to work on fixing the Seoul skyline. With both of them working on the task, it takes only a few minutes to complete, and then they take turns re-warding and -shrouding the city.

“Do you think that more creatures will come?” Wooyoung asks, weaving a fourth protective shroud over the southern districts.

San shakes his head. “The Chimera was a Tier 3, right? The monsters that I fought gradually went up in Tier, and Tier 2…”

Wooyoung gives a nod in understanding. “Yeah, Tier 2s are the humanoid creatures and the higher demons. I don’t – I’m pretty sure none of them would purposefully give us trouble.”

“I see. Do you –– who creates those creatures?”

“Higher demons can only create things like wraiths, which are at most Tier 5. Even though we can tame some of them, we can’t actually _create_ creatures in any of the higher tiers, because it takes too much power outside of our own bodies to craft and maintain their form. Only the Sins can do that.” 

“I see.”

They’re almost done quadruple-shrouding the entirety of South Korea when San speaks again.

“Do you know who could’ve possibly sent those creatures up here?”

“No,” Wooyoung admits. “And I ––”

He cuts off, wondering if he should entrust San with the information that he can’t communicate with anyone from Hell at the moment.

“You what?”

Wooyoung purses his lips, weighing his options; he can’t lie, so his silence is pretty indicative.

“Wooyoung.”

“Mm?”

“Tell me.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“ _Wooyoung_.”

Wooyoung glances over at San, who now looks vaguely annoyed.

“Wooyoung, if we are to maintain the safety of this realm, we’re going to have to work together.”

“Fine, fine,” Wooyoung sighs. If he tells San, he might be able to get some information from the angel in return, and it’s not like anyone else is going to aid him at the moment. And besides, San _is_ an angel for a reason, so there’s very little risk of Wooyoung getting slighted. “I actually can’t communicate with any of the demons in the mortal realm right now. I can’t go back to Hell, either.”

“Huh,” San remarks.

“Yeah, _huh_.”

A marked silence falls over them. Again, San is the one to break it.

“Would you be willing to lend some of the power back to me? I want to try the communication array, but my power – the Chimera took quite a lot of it.”

Wooyoung knits his brows. “You’re _that_ weak right now? Shouldn’t the spiritual array take only, like, a drop of energy?”

“It takes much more to communicate with an archangel.”

“Wow, pullin’ out the big guns.” Wooyoung whistles. “Yeah, sure. C’mere.”

“Thank you,” San says, a gentle smile gracing his features, and Wooyoung surprisingly actually feels the urge to smile back. He doesn’t, of course, but the urge is there.

The transfer is complete within seconds, and it leaves Wooyoung feeling a bit like a drained swamp, which in turn makes him sulky. He sits down on the ground, petulant, and urges for San to hurry up so he can ‘go get dicked down’ and get some of his power back.

While San’s side-tracked – when he’s in the array, he has this weird, glowy aura around him, and his eyes are now a lustrous gold that some people might call beautiful but what Wooyoung would call creepy – Wooyoung takes a closer look at the angel. He looks more or less the same he did six centuries ago – _literally_ more or less, because Wooyoung actually can’t decide which it is. His features seem a bit sharper, but they’re mostly unchanged; his hair is the same pale blond that it was before, but while it made him look a bit childish back then, now, it adds to an air of maturity he has that Wooyoung’s pretty sure isn’t even an aura; he’s still taller than Wooyoung, but he’s now more stocky than lanky.

Wooyoung would go so far as to call the angel ‘somewhat desirable’. Admittedly, as a servant of Asmodeus, he finds a lot of people desirable – it’s literally the jumping point to his power – but that’s besides the point.

When the glow around San fades, Wooyoung immediately averts his eyes.

“Okay, so,” San begins, and Wooyoung casually brings his gaze back to the angel, “it appears that we’re in – a bit of trouble.”

“Explain.”

“Yes, so. It appears that the monsters we encountered were created and specifically sent to our realm by a Tier 1.”

Wooyoung’s eyes widen. “A Tier 1? But that’s – those are the Sins.”

San nods.

“Which sin would..?”

“According to Chamuel, they belong to Sathanas.”

“But Sathanas is banished. He was banished before either of us even came to the mortal realm.”

“Yes, but it appears that he’s gotten free. Somehow.”

Wooyoung doesn’t miss the accusation in the word ‘somehow’, but he’s surprised enough by the revelation to brush it aside.

“How is he even –– he should be far too weak to summon creatures.”

“Mmn. Apparently, he’s gotten a hold of Death’s Scythe.”

Wooyoung’s eyebrows shoot up. “He _what_?”

“Yes. As you can imagine, it caused quite the ruckus in Heaven. They’ve found a temporary replacement so that – well.”

“So that people can still die.”

“Yes.”

“But does that mean Sathanas can..?”

“No. Chamuel said that though Sathanas is able to draw power from the Scythe, thankfully, Death is the only who can properly wield it. Still, it’s still far too powerful of an object to be in Sathanas’s hands.”

Wooyoung hums in agreement, still processing. Then, after a few seconds, he says, “It’s not the first time this has happened, actually. Sathanas escaping imprisonment, I mean. The Scythe thing is definitely new.”

And now that Wooyoung thinks about it, San’s ‘somehow’ was definitely justified. “Before I became a servant of Asmodeus – I’m pretty sure Sathanas escaped for, like, a century.”

“Yes. I remember.”

“You do?” Wooyoung asks, surprised. He’d definitely thought San to be younger than him.

“The Plague of Justinian is a bit hard to forget, wouldn’t you say?”

“Fair,” Wooyoung concedes. “I just – I didn’t think he’d escape again.”

San looks duly unimpressed, and Wooyoung frankly can’t blame him.

“I’ll put in a note to Asmodeus when we get done with this shit, I promise. Is that – is the fact that Sathanas is behind this the reason why I can’t communicate with Hell?”

San nods. “Chamuel thinks so.”

Wooyoung beams at him, cheeks squishing his eyes into upturned crescents. “Aw, you asked for me?”

“It was relevant to the topic of conversation, so yes. Stop looking at me like that.”

Wooyoung sticks his tongue out but relents. “I guess, the other question I have – is it just our realm? Or are the others experiencing this, too?”

San shakes his head. “Just us. I’m not sure why, though. Chamuel suggested that you might have the answer.”

“Huh.” 

It takes Wooyoung a few moments, but the answer does indeed come to him. He nearly laughs when he gets the revelation, but he figures it wouldn’t be very appropriate, so instead he just says, “Oh.”

“‘Oh’, what?”

“You know how – actually, we talked about this like an hour ago, so of course you do. Basically, Asmodeus was the one who dragged Sathanas to Hell, right?”

“Right. So this is a form of revenge?”

“Well, yes, but there’s more to it. Basically, Sathanas wasn’t so much upset at being dragged to Hell as he was...the other stuff.”

“What is ‘the other stuff’.”

“When he got to Hell, he was given what he wanted – the status of a Sin and, well, Asmodeus. But then he got a bit...you know, wrath-y, which was giving all the other Sins and their followers a really hard time in the mortal realm, so the other Sins shut him up and stripped him of his power. Then, when he got free again, it was pretty hard to contain him, so Asmodeus more or less had to, uhm. Essentially trick him back into banishment, which – you can imagine – he was pretty upset about.”

“‘Trick’?”

“Uhm.” Wooyoung lets out a nervous laugh. “Yeah.”

San grimaces. “Nevermind, you don’t have to explain. That’s – that’s a lot.”

Wooyoung hums in agreement.

After a few moments, San speaks again. “So, essentially, we are atoning for your Sin’s sins.”

Wooyoung shrugs. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Okay.” San heaves a deep sigh, and he looks so stressed that Wooyoung almost feels bad for him. “So – okay.”

“What did Chamuel suggest we do?”

“He said that we would have to defeat Sathanas.”

“‘We’ have to defeat Sathanas? Who is ‘ _we’_?”

“You and I.”

Wooyoung snorts. “There’s no fuckin’ way. What, you can’t get any of your angel buddies to come down and help you?”

“Well, that’s the thing. You see –– apparently, Sathanas has locked down our entire realm, which means that no non-mortal being can arrive in nor depart from it, and it’s hard even for me to communicate outside the realm. In fact, the reason that I had to borrow your power for the spiritual array was because it took a lot more power than usual, which now makes sense.”

Wooyoung decides to focus on a very minute part of what San just said. “You _lied_ to me?”

A crease appears between San’s brows. “How did I lie to you?” 

“You told me you had to borrow power because, I quote, ‘it takes much more to communicate with an archangel’.”

“That’s not a lie.”

It’s true, but Wooyoung still narrows his eyes, and the angel shoots him a grin in response.

“Anyways,” San continues. “Chamuel warned that just now was probably the last time I’d even be able to access the array for...a while. And then the array cut out.”

“So now we’re just...stuck. On our own. Indefinitely.”

“Mhm.”

“Great. Anything else?”

“Yes. He mentioned that, in order to find a way to defeat wrath, we’re going to have to talk to Janus.”

“ _Janus_?” Wooyoung asks, eyes wide. “The crossroads guy?”

“Yes.”

“But he’s fucking crazy.”

“Yes, but he’s also knowledgeable. And the fact that he’s not quite angel nor demon means that Sathanas can’t interfere with or control him.”

Wooyoung spends a few minutes muttering about how they’re never going to get actually good advice from Janus, but ultimately – after much coaxing and a particularly convincing ‘we have no other choice’ – concedes. “Janus always wants something, though, doesn’t he? Like an exchange for answering a question.”

“Yes. In order to summon him, you’re going to have to draw a pentagram–” Wooyoung notes with great amusement that San does not say ‘we’–”and at the ends of the pentagram will be certain weights. You and I can stand at two ends, but the other three ends must be offerings.”

“What kind of offerings?” 

“Gems.”

“What, so we just go buy some diamonds or whatever? Consider it done.”

“Well, no. You know how some creatures drop gems?”

Wooyoung’s brows knit. “Yeah. But, like, Tier 2 creatures.”

“Yes. We need _those_ gems.”

Wooyoung considers complaining, but even he can see that there’s really no way out of this; until one of them comes up with a better option, this is the best they’ve got.

“Okay, fine. _But,”_ he adds when he sees San’s eyes light up, “we’re doing it later. I need to recharge first. Do you know how long until the next wave of creatures comes?”

“Chamuel said that, even with the Scythe, Sathanas is still weak from his banishment, so it should be a bit before he’s able to summon any creatures again. He also mentioned, though, that the next few creatures will likely be stronger - the Minotaurs and the Chimera were probably just tests.”

“Oh, how _marvelous_ ,” Wooyoung says, mock grinning.

San smiles. “Admittedly, Tier 2 creatures will be a lot harder to fight, but the good thing is that – since they’re beings with souls – we’ll be able to feel their pull as soon as they appear as opposed to having to find out about them via wards or shrouds.”

“That’s true,” Wooyoung concedes. “Not sure if I prefer that trade-off, though.” San looks apologetic, so Wooyoung continues, “Yeah, yeah, we have no choice. I know.”

San hums. “When you’re done, I’ll meet you..?”

Wooyoung waves a hand. “I’ll use an incantation. We can still communicate within the realm, right?”

“I mean, I think so. I’ve never tried, because...you know.”

Wooyoung laughs. “Because I told you to fuck off, got it.” He purses his lips, thinking. “Here, lemme give it a shot.”

He murmurs an incantation under his breath, and sure enough, as soon as it’s complete, he sees San perk up. 

_Hello, cutie,_ Wooyoung purrs.

He yelps when he gets promptly removed from San’s head, experiencing the mental equivalent of getting booted out the door.

“Okay, it works,” San states, voice flat.

“You’re no fun,” Wooyoung sulks. “Okay, _anyways_ – like I said, gimme a couple of days, and then we can get started.”

“A couple of days? The sooner we banish Sathanas, the better.”

“Yeah, but we can only do that when the creature actually shows up, no? If it’s sooner than a couple days, we can start then. If it’s later than that –” Wooyoung shrugs.

San purses his lips. “It’s better if we have some time to prepare.”

Wooyoung resists the urge to roll his eyes, knowing - however begrudgingly - that San is right. 

“Okay, fine,” he sighs. “Like – two. Is two days fine, your highness?”

“Two is good. Also, please don’t call me that.”

Wooyoung’s about to retort, but he realizes that – for some reason – San is smiling, and now he’s just suspicious. 

“What?” he demands.

“How old are you?” 

Wooyoung just blinks, for once at a loss for words. “How old are _you_?”

It turns out that San is two years older than him, and the reason he was smiling is because, “You don’t have to call me ‘your highness’, but technically, given where we are right now, you should be calling me ‘hyung’”.

Wooyoung scoffs. “We’re literally _millennia_ old, and you’re going to make a big deal out of two years?”

“Two years is two years,” San says with a shrug.

“Fuck off, _hyung_ ,” Wooyoung grumbles, and San looks entirely too smug for his liking. “What, is being called hyung a kink of yours or something?”

San grimaces, and Wooyoung smiles, content.

“Didn’t think so. See ya in two days, San.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [twt](https://twitter.com/alphabetsleuth)!


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